Dwarf mistletoes have no leaves at all, just bud scales - the plants look like drab twigs.

For instance, you can smear a homemade mixture into the opened scales of a pinecone, then hang the cone from a tree branch.

The buds left at winter pruning begin to swell in the few weeks prior to budbreak, and budbreak itself is marked by the first signs of green in the vineyard, as the first young leaves unfold and push through the bud scales.

Every so often it is advisable to remove the mineral scale that builds up on the electrical heater element and in the reservoir pan.

Pipes can become clogged with scale that reduces water flow and ultimately requires pipe replacement.

Mr Wilkinson was of the opinion that since water treatment equipment had been installed only recently, there were likely to have been corrosion and a build up of scale over the years inside the pipe work.

Origin

English has three main words scale, two of which share an ancestry. The scale of fishes and reptiles has the same root as the scale used for weighing, and both are related to shell. The first scale is the one in the scales fall from someone's eyes, ‘someone is no longer deceived’. In the biblical Acts of the Apostles the expression describes how St Paul, blinded by his vision on the road to Damascus, was given his sight back by God. The weighing scale had the early sense ‘drinking cup’(a meaning which survives in South African English) which probably transferred to the pans of the scales. It comes from Old Norse skál ‘bowl’, also source of the drinking toast skol. The scale in music and measuring derives from Latin scala ‘ladder’, from the root of scandere ‘to climb’, an element in ascend, descend, and condescend, all Late Middle English. See also echelon, scan

scaleless

The giant catfish, the world's biggest scaleless freshwater fish, is in danger of extinction and listed as an endangered species in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Blennies have scaleless, elongated bodies, and comb-like, slender, close-set teeth, which can be either fixed or movable.

Beyond P. spathula being a source of caviar, their skin is thick, scaleless, strong, and tans well, making it a marketable product.

verb

The elder statesman had another perch bag of 3-13 as did third-placed man Adrian Goodwin who scaled 2-4oz.

His mother, Norma, is from Aghabullogue, Coachford, Co Cork, and the baby scaled 8lb 6oz.

Origin

Middle English (in the sense 'drinking cup', surviving in South African English): from Old Norseskál 'bowl', of Germanic origin; related to Dutchschaal, GermanSchale 'bowl', also to English dialect shale 'dish' Compare with skoal.

English has three main words scale, two of which share an ancestry. The scale of fishes and reptiles has the same root as the scale used for weighing, and both are related to shell. The first scale is the one in the scales fall from someone's eyes, ‘someone is no longer deceived’. In the biblical Acts of the Apostles the expression describes how St Paul, blinded by his vision on the road to Damascus, was given his sight back by God. The weighing scale had the early sense ‘drinking cup’(a meaning which survives in South African English) which probably transferred to the pans of the scales. It comes from Old Norse skál ‘bowl’, also source of the drinking toast skol. The scale in music and measuring derives from Latin scala ‘ladder’, from the root of scandere ‘to climb’, an element in ascend, descend, and condescend, all Late Middle English. See also echelon, scan

Origin

English has three main words scale, two of which share an ancestry. The scale of fishes and reptiles has the same root as the scale used for weighing, and both are related to shell. The first scale is the one in the scales fall from someone's eyes, ‘someone is no longer deceived’. In the biblical Acts of the Apostles the expression describes how St Paul, blinded by his vision on the road to Damascus, was given his sight back by God. The weighing scale had the early sense ‘drinking cup’(a meaning which survives in South African English) which probably transferred to the pans of the scales. It comes from Old Norse skál ‘bowl’, also source of the drinking toast skol. The scale in music and measuring derives from Latin scala ‘ladder’, from the root of scandere ‘to climb’, an element in ascend, descend, and condescend, all Late Middle English. See also echelon, scan